Retail technology helps businesses generate wins

Retailers require advanced digital solutions to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced environment. These businesses face challenges including inadequate infrastructure and ever-evolving security concerns. Only those that diligently test and implement the most innovative retail technology solutions will succeed.

Retail technology must maximize data to be successful

Retailers collect a wide range of information from both internal and external sources. To remain relevant in today’s omnichannel retail marketplace, these merchants must adopt reliable, secure, and efficient data management solutions, such as backup storage, network monitoring, and infrastructure security. This will ensure retailers can collect, analyze, and optimize their data for retail technology initiatives both now and in the future.

Data protection is critical for retailers

In today’s ever-changing technology environment, retailers must leverage retail technology more than ever to protecting customer data. Across the country, retailers spend millions of dollars each year on data security, whether they are installing extensive firewalls or hiring cybersecurity experts.

The good news is that most retailers want to be proactive. The National Retail Federation recently reported that by the end of 2019, 80 percent of retailers expect to adopt point-to-point encryption, which protects credit card data during transmission. Additionally, 89 percent of retailers say they will adopt tokenization, which protects information stored in databases.

CBTS offers proven data protection services that ensure retailer data is neither lost nor compromised:

• CBTS partners with leading security and technology manufacturers to identify vulnerabilities in retail systems. We perform penetration, social engineering, and phishing tests, as well as environment, application, architectural infrastructure, wireless, and technology-specific assessments. These evaluations locate problem areas and recommend ways to rectify them.
• We also design, build, implement, document, and test disaster recovery preparedness programs to ensure retailers are covered 24x7x365. Our highly trained experts manage and monitor the system and react quickly and efficiently in the event of a threat.

Cloud computing for efficient Retail as a Service

More and more retail technologies are adopting cloud-based technology for inventory tracking and management, orders, shipping information, and more. By implementing cloud computing, retailers can reduce the costs of software development, maintenance, and staffing while delivering products and services at a much faster rate while monitoring data in real time. CBTS can assist businesses in migrating their infrastructure and applications to the cloud.

The benefits of moving retail technology to the cloud include:

• Elimination or upgrade of older technology and equipment, which is costly to maintain as it ages. Outdated equipment poses a serious risk to retailers, which may be devastated in the event of a total system failure.
• Immediate access to all resources with the click of a link.
• Predictable, usage-based monthly fees rather than the high costs of constructing and maintaining a data center.

Consumers demand reliable, fast, and secure connectivity

With the advent of mobile shopping and widespread wireless connectivity, consumers expect friction-free retail technology. For example, shopping trends indicate that consumers desire a faster checkout experience and more digital payment options.

Therefore, to remain competitive, merchants need to both respond to customer demands and predict their future needs by having the most advanced systems and solutions. The success of retail businesses is directly related to their ability to successfully leverage emerging client-first technology.

Therefore, best-in-class retailers must ensure they have the proper architecture for their network infrastructure.

UCaaS, NaaS, and SD-WAN are the future of retail

UCaaS (Unified Communication as a Service), Network as a Service (NaaS), and Software Defined-Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) enhance the connectivity and collaboration capabilities of retail technology:

• UCaaS allows retailers to operate on-demand communications and applications as a utility service, providing business agility, scalability, informative analytics, and cost-effectiveness to encourage innovation and growth. Through a partnership with CBTS, retailers save both time and money by eliminating upfront costs. UCaaS solutions include VoIP, collaboration, mobile solutions, chat/presence, messaging, web, audio, and video conferencing, contact center solutions, third party integrations, and more.
• NaaS is a managed cloud service that includes Auto VPN, security, switching, Optical Sensor Cameras, and Wi-Fi. Integrated throughout a merchant’s various retail locations, NaaS allows retailers to easily and cost-effectively share wireless connectivity, analytics, and other resources. It also eliminates the time-consuming management of complex and expensive network resources, such as wireless LANs, security appliances, switches, and application delivery controllers in a data center or network while providing the advanced analytics to set retailers apart.
• SD-WAN minimizes delays over long distances and improves overall service quality. It reduces the costs of private Internet connections such as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), and coordinates UCaaS, LANs, SaaS applications, security systems, and private and public clouds. The benefits are cost savings, voice and video communication improvements, always on access to business-critical applications, and more efficient use of private and public networks.

Advanced applications for retail

Advanced call reporting and analytics are examples of retail technology that give retailers the ability to make business decisions based on call volumes. Imagine how much potential business could be lost due to inadequate staffing. Missed calls mean missed chances at making sales; however, knowing about that problem gives you the opportunity to reverse those losses. If your phone system goes down or if hold times are high because of unknown issues, your business will be dependent on how quickly your IT staff can troubleshoot the problems. With CBTS, your mission-critical phone systems are always on and our IT staff is there for you 24x7x365.

Informative reporting and analytics

Retailers can access real-time call reporting and analytics data to make instantaneous business decisions based on call volumes. These decisions include increased or decreased staffing, transferring business from phone to in-person or online channels, and investigating IT issues that might cause higher wait times.

Call reporting and analytical tools take the guesswork out of call center management and alleviate worries of missed calls and lost customers. Retailers can use this retail technology to monitor calls across multiple locations and run customized reports on a wide variety of key metrics.

Unified engagement and consumer experience

Customer satisfaction requires a connected, digital experience that incorporates voice, video, and written communications. To succeed, retailers must deliver a contact center that delivers a reliable and continuous customer experience.

CBTS provides contact center as-a-service solutions that scale, reduce complexity, and free IT departments from daily maintenance. The benefits of this retail technology include:

• A consistent customer experience across the entire business.
• Cost savings due to smaller monthly operating costs vs. large capital investments.
• The ability to quickly deploy new users, launch new features, and make changes.
• Integration with existing mobile, social, visual, and virtual technologies.

For any size business, contact center as a service provides a seamless omnichannel customer experience whether it’s through web, email, chat, or social customer interactions.

Why CBTS?

A partnership with CBTS ensures merchants can deploy world-class retail technology that will enable them to thrive in the years to come. These offerings include:

• Data storage and management
• Data protection solutions
• Security services
• Infrastructure innovation
• Unified communications services
• Contact center as-a-service